We’re keeping warm indoors today with our coconut-lemongrass green teas, and our Starbucks. We think fondly of our coffee roaster friends bent over hot, scented cups, and consider steaming bowls of Vietti Chili.

We imagine doing a snow promotion for our ice cream client like the recent Haagen-Dazs Leicester Square Campaign where an agency made it snow outside their Make-A-Wish UK event, a promotion made of snowflakes, ice cream, and wishes.

It’s snowing! It’s snowing! It’s snowing!

1. Participate Online. Update your skill set with the web. With a little googling and checking out YouTube, you can find most of the information the latest conference in your field is charging $300 or more for, and the best part is it’s free.
2. Can’t afford to subscribe to all the great industry publications you love? Check out the same publication’s online presence, especially their blog. It’s a great way to view content free.
3. E-books and Podcasts. These are another invaluable means of inspiration, and typically at a less expensive price.

My cousin had just helped to reopen a school in the community of Belloc.  I wanted to give you a brief update on his situation there and plead for your prayers.  Belloc was extremely close to the epicenter of this earthquake.  The last he had heard was that both buildings (church/school and the orphanage) at Belloc have completely collapsed.  The orphanage had not been reopened yet, but Pastor Beaulliere used the bottom level as an office.

 We have not heard from Pastor Beaulliere.  He is the pastor at the church and the principal of the school.  He and his family lived in a loft above the church/school that collapsed.  Please  pray that he and his family got out.  Pray with me that the only damage is to the buildings!  Several of his friends are headed down to Haiti (via Dominican Republic) to check on the status of all the operations in Haiti.  

In the meantime there are several ways that you can help financially.  If you are looking specifically to help the school at Belloc, please visit Havest Field Ministries.  If you feel a desire to help with the immediate relief of the Haitian people (food, water, medical supplies, etc.) please consider one of the following organizations poised to help:

http://equitasgroup.org/?page_id=56

Read more about it and let us know what you think.

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=119735.

You can also check out the video and live twitter feed at http://www.pizzaturnaround.com/.

Will their transparency pay off?  IS it transparency?  Genius, Risky or Big Mistake?

I am brainstorming opportunities for our clients to co-brand by offering their goods and services in conjunction with other non-competing companies. This has the added benefit of bringing connections and vendor relationships, reducing the cost of media spending, and cross-customer promotion for our clients. We’ve had great sales results with it in the past.

So, what’s in it for our agency?

Besides being able to offer our clients less expensive media and ‘lowest hanging fruit’ sales increases (happy clients buy more and have more to spend), it gives us a great ‘in’ with potential new clients. Best of all, these new clients don’t compete with our existing client list because we’ve hand-selected them.

To learn more about co-branding you might enjoy reading this BusinessWeek article on the topic: http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jul2009/sb20090710_255169.htm

Or you can always give us a ring if you are interested in co-branding with one of our clients or setting up a co-branding agreement for your company:

http://www.asenmarketing.com/contact-asen/index.php

Knoxville, TN, December 10, 2009 –Copper Cellar Corporation has hired Asen Advertising & Marketing to assist them in developing an aggressive social media strategy incorporating Facebook and Twitter accounts for each of their restaurants.

“Our restaurants are social gathering spots. It seemed only natural to venture into the online social world to stay in touch with our customers,” said Bart Fricks, Copper Cellar COO.

The company has launched Facebook pages and Twitter accounts for Smoky Mountain Brewery and Copper Cellar and is working on the same for other restaurants within the corporation. In the first three weeks they have attracted around 700 Facebook fans and growing.  Restaurant managers will use these accounts to extend exclusive offers to customers, announce special events and gather information to continually improve the restaurants’ levels of customer service.

Smoky Mountain Brewery also has a MySpace page that features information on the bands that perform there.

“The most important parts of this campaign have been the auxiliary ad options we used to drive customers and employees to the new social media. We had an employee contest to drive traffic to the new pages, developed check-presenter inserts for existing customers, and are in the process of creating an open house for the finished pages,” said Sarah Scoonover, Director of Client Services at Asen.

Copper Cellar Corporation – Copper Cellar Corporation operates 17 restaurants throughout Middle and East Tennessee.  Restaurants include Copper Cellar, Calhoun’s, Chesapeake’s, Cappuccino’s, Cherokee Grill Steakhouse and Smoky Mountain Brewery. The restaurants are founded on a commitment to quality, consistence and unrivalled guest satisfaction and have earned both local and national awards and recognition.

2)   Tap your employees and have them promote your company to their social networks. Encourage these folks to be your base as they are your “lowest hanging fans.”

3)   Encourage your new friends and fans to keep coming back to your page by offering fresh pertinent content (keep in mind that studies have shown discounts, deals, and online perceptions of value increase engagement).

4)   Use your new media as a customer service tool. Make sure complaints and compliments are addressed publicly and with the highest level of customer satisfaction possible.

5)   Supplement with traditional marketing. Example: we are in the process of designing check-presenter cards for a restaurant company. The cards will include the new media information. This will be followed by a press release and open house celebrating the new online face of the company.

6)   Finally, many of you will want to in-source your social media. It is important to either hire a trained professional or train an existing employee on online etiquette. Many a company has faced a PR nightmare by posting inappropriate content. Also, allow time for the person to develop and post new content after the agency is gone.

Final word: it is important for small business owners to understand that quality is a more effective judge of a campaign than quantity. As we were recently told, don’t think (like you used to) in terms of attracting the MOST people, think of attracting the RIGHT people.

We attended a Social Media Seminar this morning and thought it might be helpful to pass along some helpful information. Questions ranged from, “Who can assist me with social networking media in Knoxville?” to “Should we out-source or ‘in-source’ our company’s social media?”

It is our recommendation that you hire an agency to 1) help you understand the value of social media 2) help you develop a social media strategy and 3) help you develop an initial posting calendar for your social media marketing plan.

The agency can train someone within your business or organization to maintain your social media marketing for you.

Does Asen offer Social Media Training?  You bet. If you’re in Knoxville, Farragut, Lenoir City, Maryville, Louisville, Alcoa, Seymour, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, New Market, Oliver Springs or and Clinton area, let’s get together for lunch! We’ll be happy to answer your questions and explain how the traditional marketing tools you’re used to can fit into a social media plan.

Watch for tips tomorrow…